


fuck you zuko (ozai loses it)

by runningoutofminutes



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Gen, family feels??, hey ho, i love zuko but ozai doesnt, is that the right phrase probably not it is fire lord ozai we're talking about, still my sweet child who could have done so much, thats it thats the plot, very much ozai & ozai/ursa centric, well kind of its ozai's descent into murderous tyrant dictator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 06:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4128591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runningoutofminutes/pseuds/runningoutofminutes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>this is why zuko has daddy issues</p><p>otherwise known as a Very Serious and Sad subject topped off with a drunk title</p>
            </blockquote>





	fuck you zuko (ozai loses it)

Ursa pays far too much attention to Zuko.

In Ozai’s eyes, it is her fault that the heir to the Fire Nation throne is a mothered, cautious boy, too gentle in speech and manner, and struggling to catch up to his younger sister’s firebending prowess. Azula moves as if she is one with her fire - they are interconnected, inseparable and graceful, and Ozai is unspeakably proud of her for being so like him. But Zuko is a bitter disappointment, a reminder of Ozai’s failure. He stumbles and falls as he chases Azula through the gardens, her derisive laughter ringing in the air. His movements are clumsy and half-hearted, as if scared of the fire that shimmers out of his hands and disappears into the air. Where Azula is blazing hot and fast-paced, Zuko is slower. Where she seeks confrontation, he shies from it. Azula sets fire to one of her maids after the girl makes her bed wrong; Zuko is the one who cries for Ursa’s help when he sees. He looks constantly to his mother, shrinks away from his father, and does his best to ignore Azula. He is the heir to the throne, and he is a wedge between his parents. Ursa turns her back on Ozai at night, the air around her prickling with fear and contempt; she is afraid of him, he sees that, afraid that his want for power will drive him over the edge. She worries for her son daily, and it makes her distant, to both her husband and to her daughter. Too many times, Ozai has seen her wring her hands in despair, putting away the pot of burn ointment yet again after Azula’s latest ‘play’ fight with her brother - which she somehow always leaves unscathed. Ursa fears that one day Azula will seriously harm him, that his father will pass over his right to the throne and leave him behind in the wave of Fire Nation victories. She fears that Ozai will destroy himself and their family in his bid for power, that everything will collapse.

He can prove her wrong.

He spends hours training, mastering firebending beyond even Iroh’s capabilities. Ursa’s shoulders hunch when he returns and brushes past her, close enough that she can sense the ozone crackling off him. She knows as well as he that lightning is dangerous, but he _can_ control it. It is a heady rush, the first time he watches the blue flame lance _through_ the trunk of a tree, but it doesn’t come easily. There are several occasions where he is found, by a servant, gardener, or Ursa herself; knocked unconscious and always with a new burn somewhere where he has been too hasty. Yet his wife does not worry, but tends to him mechanically, keeping servants away until he is strong enough to stand unassisted, so no one will know that he was ever weakened. There is no love in her actions; there is deference, yes, and respect, but it stops there. She knows that Ozai will crack if there are any rumours that he should not succeed Fire Lord Azulon, knows that whatever carefully cultivated sanity he has will wither. Her hands are cool and unflinching, but they tremble slightly, and she only touches him for as long as she has to. Whatever love she once had for him, it has long since vanished, replaced by resentment and fear.

Still, his brother, for all his military successes and mastery of bending, is made weak by his affection for his son, and this, Ozai senses, will be his undoing. War is dangerous and stressful, and the moment Iroh falters, steps out of line, his brother will be there to sever his links to the crown. Ozai will take his place on the throne and in their father’s eyes. Iroh will be nothing to Azulon; just a disappointment, as Zuko is to Ozai. He can hardly bear to call Zuko his son, the words bitter in his mouth, making his lips twist and his eyes turn away. His children are like chalk and cheese, and as he becomes more ruthless in his quest to remove Iroh from his path, it is young Azula that keeps pace.

He  _will_ prove her wrong.

It will take time, but he will. Ursa will come back to him when she realises, when he has shown her that he can keep his family close, that he can even love Zuko once the crown is his. Together, they will rule, and when his time comes, Zuko will be a strong leader. Until then, his teenage son will cling to his mother’s skirts whilst his sister grows stronger and more ruthless with each passing day. It's a truth that he has accepted for the moment.

But despite this, despite the shame of his heir, Ozai loves Ursa. He loves her, somewhere in his mind, and her departure destroys him. It crushes the little humanity he has left, it cuts the final ties with _her_ son, the son he refuses to accept as his own, who was born weak and grew up weak. It is Zuko’s fault that she is gone, and he will hold that thought until the day he dies. His father’s death is regrettable, but no less fortuitous; he had known Ursa would do anything for Zuko, and it clears the path to Ozai’s throne. Ozai’s, not Iroh’s. It was never meant to be Iroh’s. After Lu Ten’s death, he hasn’t the ability to lead the war and be the figurehead the Fire Nation needs. Ozai has the strength.

Even without his queen, even with Zuko slow and clumsy, weak in his firebending and pathetically led by his emotions, he can lead his people to victory, finally. And when he does, he will be able to begin preparing Zuko to take his place. He has plenty of time, and with Ursa gone the only influences the boy now has are Azula and his father. It is this thought that pulls him out of his thoughts, makes him close away Ursa’s abandoned clothes and straighten his shoulders with a sharp smile.

Their victory will not take long to secure.


End file.
